The way you make an exogenous BHB is by attaching it to some type of other compound (sodium, potassium, calcium, or magnesium) so that your body can process the molecule by cleaving the bond between the salt and the beta hydroxybutyrate. BHB + bound to a salt = BHB salts, which is what most people in the ketosis community call exogenous ketones. There are also things called esters, which are basically unbound BHB molecules. These are really disgusting and cause massive digestive issues, so I like to ignore them until we can produce them in a more appealing way.
Neuroprotective benefits: A natural part of the aging process is neurodegeneration, which is largely responsible for cognitive defects like Alzheimer’s disease. Recent research suggests that exogenous ketone supplementation can drastically slow neurodegeneration and the resulting decrease in mental function.[7] However, the mechanism behind this finding remains to be elucidated; though, researchers suggest exogenous ketones act to reduce brain inflammation. Glucose, on the contrary, may actually accelerate inflammatory response in the brain.[8]

The “BHB salt” is simply a compound that consists of sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), and the ketone body β-hydroxybutyrate. In supplements like Pruvit’s Keto OS these individual components are being held together by ionic bonds; however, when you consume the product, it is absorbed into the blood where it dissociates into free Na+, K+, and BHB since it is a water-based solution. Thus, consuming the product directly and immediately puts more ketones into your blood.

The human studies aren’t quite there yet, but it seems likely that they’d help. A recent human case study found that ketone esters added to the regular diet improved Alzheimer’s symptoms. Animal studies indicate that adding exogenous ketones to a regular lab (read: not ketogenic) diet can reduce seizure activity and improve overall symptoms in epilepsy animal models, reverse early neuronal hyperactivity in Alzheimer’s animal models, and reduce anxiety in rats.
Once the body is able to generate energy with the help of exogenous ketones which are present in the bloodstream, it would start looking for other sources of ketones. This would encourage the body to tap into the vast reserve of fat which is accumulated in the body. Thus, the process of ketosis is accelerated when you consume extra exogenous ketones. This also leads to quicker weight loss and the body entering ketosis faster.
The current recommendation for magnesium is 310-320 mg for adult women and 400-420 mg for adult men. Magnesium deficiencies are common; 2005-2006 data indicates that the majority of Americans’ dietary magnesium intake was less than the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for the respective age groups[25]. The EAR for a nutrient is about 20% LESS than the RDA. Current data on magnesium intake and deficiency in the US is not readily available, as magnesium testing is not part of routine electrolyte testing in hospitals and clinics[26].
If you stop eating carbs, your body first uses up glucose reserves stored in the liver and muscles. After it burns all that's left of glucose, it has no other options but to start burning fat. It can burn either your body's fat stores or the fat you eat. However, not all cells in your body can use fat to make energy and this is where ketones come into play.

Exogenous ketones are not a shortcut to nutritional ketosis, but they do give your body a break from full-time carb usage. They are a tool you can use to get into ketosis if your lifestyle makes it too difficult to do so without them. And they’re also a good way to get an increased edge for those who are very on top of their nutrition and performance.

Exogenous ketones cause the body to rely less on fat as fuel (see Fig 3). Fat takes longer to metabolise for energy than muscle glycogen. This is why fatty acids are not the preferred fuel under heavy exercise. This could be useful for keto-adapted athletes performing high-intensity cardiovascular or strength training.12 This is particularly useful for the Keto-adapted athlete who wants to undergo high-intensity cardiovascular or strength training.
First and foremost, one of the most important factors is to be discipline when following the ketogenic diet. This means heavily restricting your carbohydrate intake, while switching to high-fat foods and moderate proteins. The general rule of thumb when it comes to splitting your macros out should look something like this: 5% (carbs)/ 80% (fats)/ 15% (proteins). Although if you’re just starting out, I wouldn’t focus too heavily on macros but rather place more importance in restricting your carbohydrate intake to 20 grams or less. Depending on the individual, most keto diets will allow approximately 20g-70g of net carbs as part of your overall daily intake, but if you’re asking the extreme question of ‘how to get into ketosis in 24 hours?’ then let’s focus on the absolute limit. For a more detailed breakdown, please see my keto shopping list article.
Once you hit the bed, the adrenal glands will be off and the body will enter the anabolic stage. This will allow your body to repair itself. If you stay up late for long periods of time your body will enter the hypercatabolic state. In this state, the levels of cortisol in your body increase significantly. This also increases the insulin resistance of the body which would again increase the blood sugar levels.
Getting enough sleep not only helps in the production of growth hormones vital for muscle growth, but it plays a particular role as already discussed. If you’re intermittently fasting then sleep is crucial is helping you sustain the fast. 6-10 hours of your day will be dedicated to sleep, helping you to reboot and not think about food during this time. That means less time for you to actually be fasting! Stress is another factor – if we don’t get enough sleep, we’ll tend to feel more stress and agitation throughout the day. Ensuring that we’re well rested plays a huge part in keeping down cortisol levels so that are insulin and blood sugar levels don’t spike.
Other ingredients: Many of the supplements contain large amounts of caffeine – the supplement we tested from Prüvit contains the same amount as a 16 oz cup of coffee! Some supplements also contain malic acid, which is “known for its ability to increase energy and tolerance to exercise”. This leaves the nagging doubt: if the experiment shows an increase in energy and physical performance, for example, how do we know it is the (expensive) BHB causing the effect and not the (inexpensive) other ingredients?
Every 7 days, animals were briefly fasted (4 h, water available) prior to intragastric gavage to standardize levels of blood metabolites prior to glucose and βHB measurements at baseline. Baseline (time 0) was immediately prior to gavage. Whole blood samples (10 μL) were taken from the saphenous vein for analysis of glucose and βHB levels with the commercially available glucose and ketone monitoring system Precision Xtra™ (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL). Blood glucose and βHB were measured at 0, 0.5, 1, 4, 8, and 12 h after test substance administration, or until βHB returned to baseline levels. Food was returned to animals after blood analysis at time 0 and gavage. At baseline and week 4, whole blood samples (10 μL) were taken from the saphenous vein immediately prior to gavage (time 0) for analysis of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and triglycerides with the commercially available CardioChek™ blood lipid analyzer (Polymer Technology Systems, Inc., Indianapolis, IN). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was calculated from the three measured lipid levels using the Friedewald equation: (LDL Cholesterol = Total Cholesterol - HDL - (Triglycerides/5)) [51, 52]. Animals were weighed once per week to track changes in body weight associated with hyperketonemia.

Getting enough sleep not only helps in the production of growth hormones vital for muscle growth, but it plays a particular role as already discussed. If you’re intermittently fasting then sleep is crucial is helping you sustain the fast. 6-10 hours of your day will be dedicated to sleep, helping you to reboot and not think about food during this time. That means less time for you to actually be fasting! Stress is another factor – if we don’t get enough sleep, we’ll tend to feel more stress and agitation throughout the day. Ensuring that we’re well rested plays a huge part in keeping down cortisol levels so that are insulin and blood sugar levels don’t spike.

Keto dieters love exogenous ketones because they help fight the keto flu and get you quickly into ketosis. One study found that taking drinks with exogenous ketones lowers blood levels of glucose, free fatty acid, and triglycerides [8]. The study concluded that exogenous ketones are a practical and effective way to achieve ketosis. Taking exogenous ketones longer will also speed up the process of keto-adaptation.
The USDA guidelines recommend less than 2400 mg of sodium per day for healthy adults, and 1500 mg or less for individuals over the age of 50 or at risk for hypertension[2]. For reference, 2300 mg of sodium is the equivalent of about one teaspoon of salt. Even though these recommendations are promoted by the American Heart Associated and other health-related organizations, recent research has claimed that there is simply not enough evidence to support these guidelines[5]. Worldwide 24-hour urinary sodium excretion data suggest that the normal range is actually 2500-5000 mg per day, which is what most of us consume daily[6]. Additionally, people with high activity levels or chronically low blood pressure may require more sodium than the average person.

Ketone supplementation did not affect the size of the brain, lungs, kidneys or heart of rats. As previously mentioned, the rats were still growing during the experimental time frame; therefore, organ weights were normalized to body weight to determine if organ weight changed independently to growth. There could be several reasons why ketones influenced liver and spleen weight. The ratio of liver to body weight was significantly higher in the MCT supplemented animals (Fig. 5). MCTs are readily absorbed in the intestinal lumen and transported directly to the liver via hepatic portal circulation. When given a large bolus, such as in this study, the amount of MCTs in the liver will likely exceed the β-oxidation rate, causing the MCTs to be deposited in the liver as fat droplets [94]. The accumulated MCT droplets in the liver could explain the higher liver weight to body weight percentage observed with MCT supplemented rats. Future toxicology and histological studies will be needed to determine the cause of the observed hepatomegaly. It should be emphasized that the dose in this study is not optimized in humans. We speculate that an optimized human dose would be lower and may not cause hepatomegaly or potential fat accumulation. Nutritional ketosis achieved with the KD has been shown to decrease inflammatory markers such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, E-selectin, I-CAM, and PAI-1 [8, 46], which may account for the observed decrease in spleen weight. As previously mentioned, Veech and colleagues demonstrated that exogenous supplementation of 5 mM βHB resulted in a 28 % increase in hydraulic work in the working perfused rat heart and a significant decrease in oxygen consumption [28, 41, 42]. Ketone bodies have been shown to increase cerebral blood flow and perfusion [95]. Also, ketone bodies have been shown to increase ATP synthesis and enhance the efficiency of ATP production [14, 28, 40]. It is possible that sustained ketosis results in enhanced cardiac efficiency and O2 consumption. Even though the size of the heart did not change for any of the ketone supplements, further analysis of tissues harvested from the ketone-supplemented rats will be needed to determine any morphological changes and to understand changes in organ size. It should be noted that the Harlan standard rodent chow 2018 is nutritionally complete and formulated with high-quality ingredients to optimize gestation, lactation, growth, and overall health of the animals. The same cannot be said for the standard American diet (SAD). Therefore, we plan to investigate the effects of ketone supplements administered with the SAD to determine if similar effects will be seen when the micronutrient deficiencies and macronutrient profile mimics what most Americans consume.

If you ever wondered how to get into ketosis, know that getting into ketosis is easy and completely natural for your body. All you need to do is follow the ketogenic diet which involves cutting down on carbs and eating lots of fat. You can also get into ketosis through fasting. But if your goal is weight-loss and reaping all the benefits of ketosis, the ketogenic diet is a must.
Look around your grocery store, and you’ll soon start to see “Fortified with Calcium” on a variety of different labels, along with calcium supplements everywhere you look. Calcium is essential for cardiovascular health, but several studies have found too much calcium to be associated with cardiovascular events and even death. One study found that consumption of 1000+ mg of supplemental calcium per day was associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease in men but not women[13]. Dietary calcium intake (i.e., calcium from incorporated foods such as milk, etc.), on the other hand, was not associated with death from cardiovascular disease in men or women. Additionally, a different study found 1000 mg of supplemental calcium to be associated with an increase in rates of cardiovascular events in women[14].
In conclusion, drinks containing exogenous ketones, in either ester or salt form, can raise concentrations of blood βHB in humans, although elevation of l-βHB lasts longer after racemic KS consumption. Both KE and KS drinks mildly altered acid-base balance. Exogenous ketones lowered blood glucose and lipids without inhibiting endogenous insulin secretion. The KE delivered highly repeatable blood concentrations of d-βHB, although ketosis was decreased by a meal. Uptake and elimination of d-βHB were similar when several drinks were consumed in succession. The dietary KE could maintain ketosis using drinks taken regularly around a normal meal pattern, or using a continuous infusion via a nasogastric tube. Therefore, ketone drinks are a viable and practical alternative to dietary strategies to achieve ketosis.
For subjects completing the initial experiment (n = 15), the amount of d-βHB excreted in the urine increased with d-βHB intake, but was <1.5% of the total βHB ingested and was not different between matched doses of KE vs. KS (Figure ​(Figure1I).1I). There was no change in urine volume produced in different study conditions. Baseline urinary pH (5.7 ± 0.1) was unchanged by KE ingestion (pH 6.4 ± 0.2. p = 0.8 vs. baseline) but was significantly alkalinized by KS consumption (pH 8.5 ± 0.1. p < 0.001 vs. baseline) (Figure ​(Figure1J1J).
88. Yost T, Erskine J, Gregg T, Podlecki D, Brass E, Eckel R. Dietary substitution of medium chain triglycerides in subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in an ambulatory setting: impact on glycemic control and insulin-mediated glucose metabolism. J Am Coll Nutr. 1994;13(6):615–22. doi: 10.1080/07315724.1994.10718457. [PubMed] [CrossRef]

The effects of ketone drinks on endogenous insulin secretion are unclear. Whilst the small increase in plasma insulin after KE and KS drinks may have been due to the small quantity of dextrose in the diluent, it has been proposed that ketones could potentiate or even stimulate insulin secretion. Isolated pancreatic islets secreted insulin when stimulated by ketones at glucose concentrations of >5 mM (Biden and Taylor, 1983), and small amounts of insulin are secreted in vivo following exposure to exogenous ketones in animals (Madison et al., 1964; Miles et al., 1981). In response to an intra-venous 10 mM glucose clamp, ketone ester drinks increased glucose uptake and plasma insulin (Holdsworth et al., 2017). The increases in insulin with ketone drinks taken whilst fasted were small compared to the increases seen when the ketone ester drink was consumed with a meal and with consumption of a dextrose drink. Furthermore, the lack of difference in peak plasma insulin between the two latter conditions indicates that nutritional ketosis did not inhibit or increase normal carbohydrate induced insulin production.

Core BHB™ provides pure goBHB™ in an all-natural formula with no artificial sweeteners, making ideal for those on the keto diet, athletes, and people who are health-conscious. Even if you’re on a high-carb diet, Core BHB™ will rapidly elevate blood ketone levels and help your body enter a state of ketosis (often with 30 minutes of consumption). In turn, you will experience increases in energy, fat loss, endurance, and mental acuity. With regular use of Core BHB™, you can also speed up the transition from a higher-carb diet to the ketogenic diet and reduce symptoms of the “keto flu”.
Also, it’s important to remember that just because something may be SAFE (and to reiterate, I’m not saying a long term ketogenic diet is safe), it doesn’t mean it’s good for you or beneficial. Running Marathons could be considered safe (especially if it’s on a closed race circuit), but does this mean it’s good for you? Or should you be out running marathons every day?
Ketone Esters: Synthetically-made compounds that link an alcohol to a ketone body, which is metabolised in the liver to a ketone. Ketone esters are used primarily in research for testing their efficacy in elevating ketone body levels (below is a generic structure of a BHB ester). Yet, the first commercial Ketone ester drink will be available in 2018 by HVMN. Research esters are reportedly very unpleasant tasting which HVMN hopes to change.
Another important difference between endogenous and exogenous BOHB is that most synthetic BOHB used in dietary supplements is a mixture of the two ‘D’ and ‘L’ isomers, whereas endogenously produced BOHB consists of just the D-isomer. Metabolically, the two isomers are very different, and current published information indicates that most of the energy and signaling benefits of BOHB derive from the D-form. This is potentially problematic because the L-isomers are not metabolized via the same chemical pathways as the D-forms (Lincoln 1987, Stubbs 2017), and it remains unclear whether humans can convert the L-form to the D-form.
So if you really want to jump start ketosis, do what the prehistoric humans did; don’t eat for 3 to 5 days. Keep the water bottle and multivitamins close and go on a strict fast. It might seem extreme and to a degree it is, but starving yourself will put you into ketosis. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. And it will cause you to lapse into a ketogenic state faster than if you tried to do so by manipulating the foods you eat (replacing carbs with fats). Once starvation has caused your body to transition to a ketogenic state, you can begin to introduce your low carb, high fat keto-friendly foods.
Whereas ketone esters are 100% D- form, most ketone salts are a 50/50 mix of left and right-handed beta hydroxybutyrate, which is known as a racemic mixture. These beta hydroxybutyrate molecules are linked to a mineral, such sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), or magnesium (Mg). This kind of ketone supplement gets broken down to left and right-handed version of beta hydroxybutyrate along with the mineral.
Interestingly, the effects of exogenous ketones on blood substrate concentrations were preserved with the metabolic stimulus of a mixed meal. Following KE drinks, FFA and glucose fell and remained low in both fed and fasted subjects, despite higher insulin throughout the fed arm, suggesting that there was no synergistic effect of insulin and βHB to further lower blood glucose or FFA. In agreement with previous work, the threshold for the effects of βHB on glucose and lipids appears to be low (<1 mM), as there was no significant dose-response relationship between increasing blood βHB and the small changes in plasma FFA, TG or glucose across all of the study drinks (Mikkelsen et al., 2015).

If given all as a single salt, 50 grams per day of BOHB would mandate daily intakes of 5.8 g Mg++, 9.6 g Ca++, 11.0 g Na+, or 18.8 g K+. Even if divided up carefully as a mixture of these various salts, it would be problematic getting past 30 grams per day of BOHB intake. And again, most of the currently marketed ketone salt formulations are made with a mix of the D- and L-isomers of BOHB, so the actual delivered dose of the more desirable D-isomer is considerably less. The other concern with the salt formulations is that, as the salts of weak acids, they have an alkalinizing metabolic effect that might have a modest but cumulative effect on blood pH and renal function.

The difference in peak blood d-βHB concentrations between matched amounts of βHB as ester or salts arose because the salt contained l-βHB, as the blood concentrations of d- plus l-βHB isoforms were similar for both compounds. It is unclear if kinetic parameters of KE and KS drinks would be similar if matched d-βHB were taken in the drinks. Unlike d-βHB, blood l-βHB remained elevated for at least 8 h following the drink, suggesting an overall lower rate of metabolism of l-βHB as urinary elimination of l-βHB was in proportion to plasma concentration. Despite similar concentrations of total βHB, breath acetone was ~50% lower following KS drinks compared to KE, suggesting fundamental differences in the metabolic fates of D- and L-βHB. These findings support both previous hypotheses (Veech and King, 2016) and experimental work in rats (Webber and Edmond, 1977), which suggested that the l-isoform was less readily oxidized than the d-isoform, and is processed via different pathways, perhaps in different cellular compartments. It seems that l-βHB is not a major oxidative fuel at rest, and may accumulate with repeated KS drinks. However, the putative signaling role of l-βHB in humans remains unclear. In rodent cardiomyocytes, l-βHB acts as a signal that modulates the metabolism of d-βHB and glucose, Tsai et al. (2006) although no differences in blood glucose were seen here. Furthermore, L-βHB can act as a cellular antioxidant, although to a lesser extent than D-βHB (Haces et al., 2008).
Blood, urine, plasma, and breath ketone concentrations following mole-matched ketone ester or isocaloric dextrose drinks in fed and fasted subjects (n = 16) at rest. Data from both of the two study visits in each condition (fed and fasted) completed by an individual are included in the analysis. Values are means ± SEM. (A) Blood d-βHB. (B) AUC of blood d-βHB. (C) Urine d-βHB excretion. (D) Plasma acetoacetate (AcAc). (E) Measured breath acetone (ppm = parts per million). (F,G) Mean d-βHB Cmax and difference between βHB Cmax over two visits when subjects separately consumed two ketone ester drinks in both the fed (F) and fasted (G) state. X axis = mean d-βHB Cmax of the 2 visits (mM), Y axis = difference between d-βHB Cmax in each visit. 95% confidence limits are shown as dotted lines. Significance denoted by: *p < 0.05 fed vs. fasted.

In compliance with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about links and posts on this site: Many of the links on DrJockers.com are affiliate links of which I receive a small commission from sales of certain items, but the price is the same for you. If I post an affiliate link to a product, it is something that I personally use, support and would recommend without an affiliate link. Learn More

Effects of ketone supplementation on triglycerides and lipoproteins: Ketone supplementation causes little change in triglycerides and lipoproteins over a 4-week study. Graphs show concentrations at 4-weeks of total cholesterol (a), Triglycerides (b), LDL (c), and HDL (d). MCT supplemented rats had signfiicantly reduced concentration of HDL blood levels compared to control (p
Now that you have fasted for quite a long time, you can break your fast at around 4 to 5 pm. Try having some good fat for this purpose, such as coconut oil or MCT oil, butter, or any other healthy fat. MCT oil might come in as a better option in this case since it gets quickly absorbed by the body. It swiftly bypasses the gallbladder and reaches the liver where it is transformed to ketones rapidly.
First, there’s something unnatural about having elevated levels of ketones and glucose together. It’s really hard to make that happen using traditional whole foods. The closest natural approximation you could get to it would be the traditional coconut-rich diets of the Kitava people in the South Pacific, where the medium chain triglycerides (MCT) in the coconut fat increased ketone production alongside the carbs in the fruit and tubers they ate. They had excellent metabolic health, but they weren’t anywhere close to a ketogenic diet. Coconut fat isn’t as ketogenic as purified MCT oil, let alone exogenous ketones.
I heard a rep from Perfect Keto on a podcast and your Exogenous Ketones. I ordered and received it the other day. I see from this article that I should not do a full scoop at once, but break it up in a day. Good to know. I had about a half scoop before I worked out this morning and could tell I had more energy. Loved that. Just curious….any ideas how long it will take me to get back into ketosis and fat burning?? (I know it depends on what I eat, but a general idea that I promise not to hold you too! (I’m actually missing having ‘keto breath!)
For the past few million years, the only way for humans to make use of ketones for fuel was to restrict carbohydrates low enough and long enough to induce the liver to make them. This is admittedly hard for many people to do in a world that still believes that dietary carbs are good and fats are bad. An emerging alternative is to consume ketones as a dietary supplement. The research into how these function in the body and what benefits they can confer remains early stage, but there are already a number of such products available for sale. In this section, we will discuss how exogenous ketones affect blood ketone levels, and how they may influence health and disease compared to ketones produced within the body.

Ketogenesis is the metabolism of fatty acids by β-oxidation. 4 This process gives acetyl CoA which then leads to β-hydroxy-β-methyglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) as seen below5. HMG-CoA converts into Acetoacetone which can switch back and forth to BHB. Acetoacetone to Acetone conversion is irreversible (on the left below). Acetoacetate and BHB (via acetoacetate) are used to produce energy when converted back into acetyl-CoA within a cell’s mitochondria whilst Acetone is excreted in the breath and urine.4

77. Volek JS, Sharman MJ, Gomez AL, Scheett TP, Kraemer WJ. An isoenergetic very low carbohydrate diet improves serum HDL cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations, the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and postprandial pipemic responses compared with a low fat diet in normal weight, normolipidemic women. J Nutr. 2003;133(9):2756–61. [PubMed]
Lastly, EK products in general ​are usually in the form of salts, which is why they are referred to as BHB Salts. The BHB ketones are bound to common salts such as sodium​, calcium, magnesium and potassium​ to improve absorption rate. These salts are also the core electrolytes your body needs to help you avoid feeling mentally drained and physically lousy during the keto-flu transition period.
I noticed for myself that it helps if I add some highly nutritional foods to my diet before I go into ketogenic diet. Adding minerals and vitamins will aid your body in this difficult process and on top of that if you have a deficiency of some sort you will be even more hungry and it will make your transition more difficult, so why make it harder on your self if you can just add some leafy greens to your diet.
Various reasons can motivate you to get into ketosis as part of the Ketogenic Diet. These may range from medical purposes so that you stay healthy, to keeping various ailments away. If you are an athlete, you may get into ketosis to keep your body fit for the upcoming competitions. Some people get into ketosis just to shed some extra fat and keep their bodies in perfect shape. Regardless of the reasons, here are practical tips on how to get into ketosis in 24 hours.
In Summary, I think it’s important to do your own research and draw your own conclusion about the long term risks of ketosis. For some people, a ketogenic diet may be a necessity given their health situation. For those of us who do not suffer from such health conditions I would present the question ‘why do you want to follow a strict ketogenic diet for an extended period’, and then follow this up with ‘are the potential risks and sacrifices worth the benefits?’
No the main reason to enter ketosis fast is because it is not pleasent to be glycogen depleted and not yet be in the state of ketosis. You feel sleepy, without energy, some people even have headaches or mild flu symptoms. However you look at this it is not pleasant until your body starts producing ketones and you can effectively start using fat as the primary energy source. So you want to breakthrough this period as fast as possible and not be stuck in this middle place for days or even weeks.

When you restrict carbs, the kidneys excrete a lot of sodium. Not replacing this sodium can leave you feeling light headed. I recommend having a big glass of spring water with ½ teaspoon of Celtic sea salt twice a day (first thing in the morning and midafternoon are two times that work well). A long with this, make sure you use a lot of salt on your meals.

Glucose and BHB went down slightly throughout the effort and RQ fell, implying a high rate of fat oxidation. We can calculate fat oxidation from these data. Energy expenditure (EE), in kcal/min, can be derived from the VO2 and VCO2 data and the Weir equation. For this effort, EE was 14.66 kcal/min; RQ gives us a good representation of how much of the energy used during the exercise bout was derived from FFA vs. glucose—in this case about 87% FFA and 13% glucose. So fat oxidation was approximately 12.7 kcal/min or 1.41 g/min. It’s worth pointing out that “traditional” sports physiology preaches that fat oxidation peaks in a well-trained athlete at about 1 g/min. Clearly this is context limited (i.e., only true, if true at all, in athletes on high carb diets with high RQ). I’ve done several tests on myself to see how high I could push fat oxidation rate. So far my max is about 1.6 g/min. This suggests to me that very elite athletes (which I am not) who are highly fat adapted could approach 2 g/min of fat oxidation. Jeff Volek has done testing on elites and by personal communication he has recorded levels at 1.81 g/min. A very close friend of mine is contemplating a run at the 24 hour world record (cycling). I think it’s likely we’ll be able to get him to 2 g/min of fat oxidation on the correct diet.

Affiliate Disclosure: There are links on this site that can be defined as affiliate links. This means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something when clicking on the links that take you through to a different website. By clicking on the links, you are in no way obligated to buy.

Medical Disclaimer: The material on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult your physician before beginning any diet or exercise program.